As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Most IHSs include one or more motherboards. A motherboard may be any printed circuit board containing components (e.g., Central Processing Unit(s) and memory) of an IHS, computer, or other device, with connectors into which other circuit boards can be slotted.
When a service technician replaces a motherboard in the field or repair hub, the new motherboard (e.g., from stock) may be initialized with certain information such as, for example, a service tag, a stock keeping unit (SKU), etc. To this end, upon deployment, a motherboard may be set in Service Menu Manufacturing Mode (“service mode”) such that the IHS's Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) will initially boot them to a service menu, and the service technician is prompted to enter all required information.
As the inventors hereof have recognized, however, this is a manual process that takes time and is subject to human error. At times the IHS's service tag is printed on a sticker, which may be old, worn, and/or hard to read. Also, the service technician may enter the wrong service tag or SKU into the service menu, requiring the customer to return the IHS for repairs. Moreover, the service technician must ensure that BIOS setup options are set correctly, and that boot options are added. Sometimes, a service technician has to use trial-and-error techniques to find the right setup (e.g., Legacy vs. UEFI boot mode, Secure-Boot-On, AHCI vs. RAID mode) and boot options (especially in the case of multiple operating systems installed, desire to have CD/floppy/etc. in the boot list or not, etc.).